Dave Bakke: Anniversary had familiar ring to it

Friday

Sep 26, 2008 at 12:01 AMSep 26, 2008 at 8:09 AM

A wedding ring is just a symbol, isn’t it? Wearing a wedding ring or not wearing a wedding ring actually has no effect on the love between two people or the strength of their marriage. Still, after 46 years of wearing the same wedding ring, losing it can be painful.

Dave Bakke

A wedding ring is just a symbol, isn’t it? Wearing a wedding ring or not wearing a wedding ring actually has no effect on the love between two people or the strength of their marriage. Still, after 46 years of wearing the same wedding ring, losing it can be painful.

That is what happened to Rich Meidel. He lost his wedding ring more than four years ago. He had worn it since Sept. 6, 1958, when he and Bobbie were married at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Springfield.

Rich always took his ring off when he played golf, and he knew that is how he lost it — he took it off when he was playing golf in Florida. He kept the same golf bag he used that day, even though it has been retired.

“It’s so funny,” says Bobbie Meidel, “because last year I said, ‘Rich, we ought to put that golf bag in with the garage sale stuff.’ But every now and then, he’ll go through the bag again as if the ring is going to magically appear.”

Of course, it never did appear, no matter how many times Rich went through that golf bag.

But, as I said, a marriage is not dependent upon a ring. Time went on, and a few weeks ago, the Meidels, who lived in Auburn for 40 years until moving to Springfield, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

The night of Sept. 6, they took a limousine to dinner at Ross Isaac in Springfield. The limo was a surprise, courtesy of their children.

“They just said, ‘Be ready at 6:15,’” says Bobbie. “A limo pulled up to take us to dinner. There were six of us in there. They had the dinner all arranged, and it was a great night.”

The next day, there was a recognition of the Meidels at their long-time church, Trinity Lutheran in Auburn. That’s when they got another surprise.

At the church, they were approached by Claudia and Chloe DiNardo. Claudia is 11; Chloe is 8.

“We have a special anniversary gift for you,” they told the Meidels. They held out a bow wrapped around Rich Meidel’s wedding ring — the same one he lost more than four years ago.

The girls’ mother, Katy DiNardo, is Bobbie’s goddaughter. Not only that, the DiNardos bought the house in Auburn where the Meidels had lived for so long. That is where the ring was finally found. It was not lost in Florida after all.

“I found it,” says Katy. “I was in the barn, a pole barn. I just happened to see something shimmering, if you will, and I just bent down and noticed it was a ring in the rocks.”

Katy didn’t know that Rich had lost his wedding ring. But when she picked this one up and saw the inscription on the inside, she knew the owner.

“It had both of their initials and their wedding date,” Katy says. “Using my math skills, I figured out that it was going to be their 50th anniversary this September, so I thought it would be a good time to give it to them.”

She found the ring a couple of months ago and held onto it until the Meidels’ big day.